


warm rain on a late summer's day falls from the bluest of skies

by Esatea



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, but probably failed, many many points of view i tried my best to not make it Incredibly confusing, shamelessly only having my favorite characters here, the others love and appreciate natsume as well but theyre busy today, there are some personal possible hcs for characters future in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esatea/pseuds/Esatea
Summary: “Do you have a name I could call you? That I could greet you with when I come back again?”It's the day when Natsume is moving away from the Fujiwaras' house, for a future partially away. Reconciling past and future is difficult for all of us. For Natsume there's a lot left in that house, not least of all, Warmth.
Relationships: Fujiwara Shigeru & Fujiwara Touko & Natsume Takashi, Natsume Takashi & Taki Tooru & Tanuma Kaname
Kudos: 18





	warm rain on a late summer's day falls from the bluest of skies

**Author's Note:**

> having not written anything for? half a year? and finished anything since? that one creative writing course three years ago, i felt i needed to write something my soul would agree with. natsume is truly that for me so yeah back to fancfiction it is
> 
> the title comes half from an actually used metaphor half just from me listening to the ost for another anime for the Entirety of writing this and yeah
> 
> important facts not mentioned is that taki is going to study linguistics and is practicing kyudo and incidentally is the woman of my dreams. while i also realized that im projecting on her? huh, who would have thought
> 
> thanks to my matching icon pal for reading this first

_ It had stood for a long time. Not a long time in the endlessly winding path of time itself, not a long time for those who lived the longest. But It had stood for as long as it had existed, seeing many a human death. Stood through seasons warm and cold, through storms and floods and faraway fires.  _

_ It had been filled with hopeful beginnings, lively middles and the calmest of ends. Vaguely It remembered this, the emotions that had flowed through in ages past and present. Borrowed joy and listened sorrow. Back then It hadn’t yet thought, experienced, or breathed in the wind and rain. But then It met a young Child of man. _

“

The spring sky was littered with small puffy clouds, moved slowly by a breeze much slighter down here near the ground. Kaname was walking amidst the wild flowers and grass growing on the roadside, making his way toward the early afternoon sunlight. Natsume’s house didn’t feel far away anymore, the walk from the temple as familiar to him as the shoe lockers at school or the corners of his own room. Today, though, every step awakened a new wave of melancholy mixed with anticipation.

Natsume was outside the house, crouched over the small garden he had helped Touko-san plant a few years back. Possibly hearing him approach, or alerted by some other noise, Natsume suddenly straightened his back and looked around until his eyes fell on the other, expression softening into that familiar smile.

He often found himself doubting whether Natsume was entirely human. After all these years, of course he knew the most human parts; the weakness, the humor, what he feared and what he yearned for. But despite it all, Kaname could never stop seeing the ethereal glint in his friend’s far-looking eyes, the at times slightly strange rhythm to his step. There had been times when he feared Natsume would slowly fade away, turn blurry and remain only as a distortion, as a headache. That he would become part of the world Kaname couldn’t see. 

“Hi,” the Natsume now offered a little wave as he stood up and greeted Kaname, “um, thank you for coming to help today.”

“Oh, no problem,” he absently noted that Natsume’s hands were covered in dirt from digging around in the ground, “It’s not like I’m completely uninvolved in this.”

Both of them laughed a bit at this, followed by a silence, the happy awkwardness reminiscent of how they’d interacted back when they were both still new to each other, new to friendship itself. Had it been back then, Kaname might have said that with a twinge of jealousy, hidden a tint of sadness behind his words. Natsume used to hide so much, turn his back on one side of his life, to protect the other from danger. And back then, danger equaled involvement of any kind with the world of the ayakashi. Natsume still hid a lot, but less and less, less questions needed to be asked before admissions, fewer hours needed to be spent in worry over that which most could not see. Today of all days, Natsume had promised not only to tell them a story, but to introduce them to someone of that world. 

Kaname’s speculations were interrupted by Natsume looking past him and commenting a bit louder, with another smile, this time like a grin: “It looks like our muscle has arrived.”

“You bet I have, look at you two beanpoles - not a single box out of the house yet!” Taki was rolling up her right sleeve and making a show of grabbing her bicep. Kaname couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter. 

“We should probably get some of them out, yes,” he admitted.

“Shigeru-san should be here with the van soon,” Natsume added, glancing to look at the road, as if he could already see his guardian driving up in front of the house he’d been living in for the past almost three years. 

“Well, let’s get to work then!” Taki declares with her contagious enthusiasm. Kaname and Natsume share a content look and nod at each other, before following taki in through the familiar entrance to the Fujiwaras’ house.

“

_ The Child had arrived with one sole cardboard box in its thin arms. In that box had lain something with immense Power, something that awoke shivers in the floorboards and made the air tremble with tension. But that Power had done nothing but make unease among those living and breathing. The answer for It, was the Child itself. _

_ There had been an Old couple of Humans, a calm and serene scent. Most definitely past the lively middle, but perhaps not yet at the quieten end. A kind Old couple, who would care for It, despite it not Existing yet. But the Old couple, they felt many things, not all of which were warm. Much was bland and lukewarm, much like a summer rain, in both good and bad.  _

_ With the Child settled in a new light. A timid thing, sitting with a stiff back at the dining table, smiling like there was no other option. But with the Child, It slowly began to see, to sense on its own. It heard the Child’s tears at night, It saw the stains on the Child’s clothes, felt the trembles in the Child’s knees. It did not yet understand what any of it was, or meant, It simply sensed and felt. _

“

“Hey Natsume, you’re really getting this with you?” Tooru had to gape, gesturing at the boxful of paintings on the floor. Most of them looked quite old, but at least the topmost one, a scenery in green frames, was beautiful enough to make her wish she could step into the painting just to admire it more closely. 

“Oh, um,” Natsume looked a bit bashful as he explained,”Shigeru-san said an old friend of his painted a lot of scenery from this town back when they were teenagers, he said that, um, I could hang them on the walls to...to remind me of home.”

Tooru smiled at her friend’s self-conscious contentment, turning towards Tanuma to see him doing the same. Their Natsume had always been better with helping others and trying to make them feel welcome and happy than he had been at being at the receiving end of such sentiments.

The three of them had formed a friendship over a secret they held together, that of Natsume’s sight. Or more correctly, the existence of things, beings, which most couldn’t see. For Tooru, it had all been through her grandfather, for Tanuma through his sensitivity and for Natsume, unavoidably, through his living and experiencing the world of the ayakashi. Together they had helped many ayakashi look for lost things and lost ways, sometimes lost answers. But they had also fought them, protected each other and the people around them from harm they barely registered. Most of all of this was done through Natsume’s power. Tooru had tried her best, studied diligently, read all her grandfather’s materials, learnt ayakashi script, studied every written source she could get her hands on. Thirst for knowledge was not a sin, and though she’d due to it faced situations Natsume would show a pained expression at, she knew that in some ways, her knowledge had helped them. This was the awareness that had led her to the choices she’d made.

Together Tanuma and Tooru had fought not only against ill-willed ayakashi, but also against Natsume’s stupidly self-sacrificial tendencies, and absolutely astounding stubbornness in shutting others out when he thought they might be in danger. Some battles they had lost, some won, and as a result the trio was now inseparable in more than just the keeping of a secret. However, separation awaited them. 

Natsume and Tanuma were going to a university within the prefecture - Natsume wanted to study for a stable career but also to be able to visit the Fujiwaras and make sure they were doing alright, he said, and he probably also didn’t want to leave all his youkai friends behind, though this was not something he said outright. Tanuma, similarly, said his father might need him, so he was at least primarily going in for a shorter programme that would allow him to learn necessary skills for the management of a temple. Tooru understood the motivations behind the choices of her two persistently selfless boys, but secretly she hoped that they might during their studies find something they really wanted to do for themselves, and chose a path not only for the sake of others. But still, the two would stay together, would actually be living in the same dormitory, and would probably remain as inseparable as ever. Tooru, though, was different,

In studying ayakashi she had realized that researching was something she really enjoyed. She loved understanding the world written out in documents, piecing together different sources, and creating a new conclusion, new knowledge of her own, painting a new picture of the world her grandfather imagined. She wanted to be a researcher and she wanted to have good resources in doing so. She’s studied harder than ever before, and had somehow miraculously managed to pass the entrance exam to a prestigious university in Tokyo. She’d be living in her own flat, half the country away from her friends, and - though nothing would be changing on that front - several countries away from her family. Tanuma always smiled and tried to comfort her by saying it was only a four and a half hours shinkansen ride away, but even Tooru couldn’t miss the slight gloom seeping into his voice. 

She didn’t want to leave her house behind, but she had gotten many promises from neighbors who would take care of it so it wouldn’t fall apart, and it wasn’t like she, her parents or brother would never be home to care for it. It felt lonely to leave behind everything she knew, but the reason she did it was that she wanted to know  _ more _ . 

Tooru taped the lid on the box with the paintings before picking it up and heading for the door. She wondered how many ayakashi had passed through this same door, these same walls, during the three years Natsume had spent living within them. Many ayakashi had wandered through her grandfather’s house, and he hadn’t even been able to see them. Natsume must have both welcomed and chased away many, many more. She knew only a small part of the encounters and stories Natsume probably had to tell. She wondered how many of them lived on as memories in this house.

“Natsume,” she abruptly turned, startling the person in question, “what ayakashi was it that you said you wanted us to meet?”

Tanuma, who was standing behind Natsume with a dumbfounded expression, also turned to look at the questioned. There was curiosity in his eyes, but he had obviously not wanted to pressure Natsume to tell them sooner than he was ready. But Tooru had clearly heard Natsume not only promise, but actually spontaneously offer to tell them when they were helping Tanuma pack a few days back. There was no point in waiting for the right moment to ask. 

Natsume looked down at his crocs-clad feet, but he didn’t seem bothered, merely thoughtful. After a few seconds he turned his gaze upward and smiled.

“

It had been some months ago that Takashi started noticing strange things. At the time he was set to graduate from the school he had spent the longest time yet in. He had received confirmation of his acceptance to a university not too far away, but far enough for him moving into the dormitory to be the clearly more practical option.

At the Fujiwaras’ house, Takashi’s room was up on the second floor - this was good, considering the ruckus he often ended up making due to visitors the other inhabitants of the house couldn’t see. After living there for some months, he’d started recognizing how the third step from the bottom of the stairs creaked a certain way. He knew the places between the tatami mats in his room where small pebbles would get stuck, and exactly from what angle in the hall he could see whether the light on the rice cooker was signaling it was done cooking. 

Knowing his surroundings wasn’t just a sign that he’d been there for long, it was also something useful, noticing changes came in handy when there was some kind of threat to the everyday life of his home. He’d noticed back when there was a youkai casting misfortune upon the house, staying he’d recognized the change in school. He wasn’t as perceptive as Tanuma, but usually he was able to tell when someone was possessed or followed by even non-visible youkai. He ended up often writing things off as just his imagination, but they rarely were, and even if so, worry was unavoidable.

So months before his move he immediately noticed when strange things began to occur in the house. At first it wasn’t much - a window closing on its own, could as well have been the wind. It happened a few times, and Takashi silently thought of haunted houses, but only in the school festival kind of way. Another time he could have sworn he forgot to switch off the light before passing out exhausted after returning a name, but he awoke to a morning light filtered through the windows, instead of one glaring down at him from the ceiling. That could have been Touko-san, though she usually didn’t enter Takashi’s room without sign or permission, and had already been asleep at the time. The lights were also switched on by seemingly no one a couple of times, Takashi glared at sensei and at the indignation returned thought of haunted houses, this time those in ghost stories told during summer sleepovers, the kind he had finally gotten to experience these past years. When he blinked and for a second thought he could see a strange pattern in the walls of his room he thought of the painting he had once brought in there. When his fusuma one day opened in the wrong direction and when there was one more step on the stairs up to the second floor he started doubting his own memory. But when he started hearing odd creaking sounds at night his thoughts were only of youkai.

Takashi really liked living at the Fujiwaras’, he loved not only the couple, who of course were the kindest people he had ever met, he also liked the house itself. It was wide and calm, he’d once heard his caretakers fondly discussing how it after his arrival felt more like it should be, and the words had filled him with such incredible warmth. He wanted to fill Touko’s and Shigeru’s hearts with the same feeling, he wanted the entire house to be warm and full with comfort of the kind he had first experienced there. 

Any kind of threat to it was unacceptable, made his chest constrict and squeezed out the warmth. He knew that if there was some kind of potentially harmful ayakashi in the house, it was most likely there because of him. 

“Haah, it’s not like anything bad has happened?” Sensei would say whenever Takashi brought up the issue. Yet, Takashi would add, only to get an exasperated cat eye roll in response.

Usually he wouldn’t be as worried, he’d wait and see if the strange occurrences got any worse, intervene and investigate only when he was sure it wasn’t a benevolent interference. He’d gotten to know many ayakashi over the past three years, most of which he had parted with on friendly terms. He’d seen their pain like humans’ pain, heard their stories and had them listen to his own. He was far less wary of any and all interactions with those who might live to see his descendants’ deaths. His first instinct wasn’t always to retreat, defend from something that might not even be a threat. He hadn’t thrown caution to the wind, but he was now honest in his desire to listen first. Shaped by meetings and partings, he valued what happened between them just as much. 

But now he was leaving. Leaving the Fujiwaras’ house, leaving his guardians to fend for themselves in a house filled with mysterious circumstances, and he couldn’t leave behind that kind of baggage. He couldn’t wait for the ayakashi - or whatever it was - to reveal itself; he had to start looking for it.

“   
  


_ Many beings started passing through where It was. They were there for the Child, drawn in by him, though few of them ever made contact. They just fluttered by the corners, dragged along the floorboards, banged their presence against the door. Some time passed, not a long time, not like the time It had Stood, a mere fragment of such time. Then there came noise. _

_ There came noise, and for the first time It not only Heard but also Listened. The Child’s new round companion was loud, powerful, condensed like a star. The Child now laughed, in addition to smiling, more like a stream than a pond, freer, with a choice. _

_ More beings started passing through, coming and going, leaving with something they received, something they had been lacking. The Child gave them not only what they sought, he also gave them something they didn’t know to look for, something they might take cycles to notice they’d gotten. And in return the Child grew richer, in liberty and joviality, in memories and concurrences.  _

_ Some beings came again, and again. Some of them felt like they stayed, a current flowing around the Child. Other Children came, laughed, showed their plenty, sharing with the Child their souls, their compassion, giving and receiving, much like the beings.  _

_ Everything became like a summer’s day. The rain from before fell down at times, tepid in its comfort, but the sunlight shed warmth on blooming flowers and the trees cast relief in their shade. _

_ Somewhere along the way, along the warmth, It also grew to know, to remember, to Exist.  _

“   
  


Shigeru saw the house grow closer through the glass of the car window, the gleaming leaves in front of it reflecting the sunlight. Outside the front he could discern the small table they’d bought for Takashi to take with him, and a few of the boxes they’d helped the boy pack with his fortunately increased belongings. Not all of them, though, which must mean the kids were still carrying them. Touko was out shopping for a certain something, so she wouldn’t be home either.   
  
He took care in parking so that the back was close to the door; it took a while, as he wasn’t used to driving anything but occasionally the company car. When he got out and there still was no sign of Takashi or his friends, Shigeru started wondering if they were taking a break. Takashi would know to offer tea, and perhaps he’d even take out some of the senbei they’d received from Touko’s friend as a souvenir the previous week. Takashi still tended to be a bit tentative in taking things without making sure it was okay, but Touko had during the years repeatedly reassured him that the bowl on the kitchen counter was filled with snacks to be eaten by any of them, at any time. 

The at first so withdrawn and far too fearful child had during the years slowly opened up more and more. His smiles became real, he no longer seemed so afraid of the silence that sometimes fell when there was nothing to say. He more often said what was on his mind, telling stories and anecdotes at the dining table or walking home on the occasion shigeru got home early and they met on the way. Shigeru didn’t know the extent of what the boy had gone through before they took him in, but he could guess his way quite far on the matter. Takashi never brought up his previous homes, least of all in a negative light, but Shigeru knew he must have suffered through a lot to see himself in such a twisted light. The boy was too kind, and Shigeru loved him for that, but found himself wishing the world would keep paying that kindness back in proportion. 

The scene that met Shigeru when he entered the house was one of those that made him feel incredibly glad they had decided to bring takashi into their home. He was sitting in the hallway, leaning on a case he must have been in the middle of carrying outside and speaking animatedly, drawing something on the floor, it looked like. Huddled around him were two of his friends - the son of the local temple, and Takashi’s to-be roommate Tanuma Kaname-kun, and the enthusiastic girl who always would ask questions about the house they lived in, Taki Tooru-san. The two were so focused on what Takashi was telling them that neither noticed Shigeru entering, but the storyteller himself looked up, startled, and began to stand - seemingly guilty about not having finished the job yet. Shigeru gestured to him that there was no need, smiling and feeling a bit guilty himself over interrupting the three having fun like that. 

“There’s no hurry at all,” Shigeru assured, “we have the van the whole day.”

Takashi, looking a bit flushed, nodded and smiled softly. The smile filled the whole of Shigeru’s childhood home, his family home, Takashi’s home, with such a pleasant warmth. Shigeru felt a certain melancholy and forlornness at the thought of the house without him. He wanted the boy to be happy, to have a fulfilling life. But he also wanted to make the moments they all had together in this home last for as long as he could.

“Let’s have some tea before loading up the car, shall we?”

“

“Sensei, you really can’t sense anything?” he asked, for the third time that day, anxious to finally get some kind of grasp on what was causing the strange occurrences.

Sensei huffed, taking offense as always, “What am I, a youkai detector? Haven’t I told you a thousand times there is nothing out of the ordinary in this house.”

“Well,” came an unexpected voice from the windowsill, “It’s very rare for a youkai to be hiding from humans, after all, so either it’s just a small fry that Madara can’t sense,” 

There came a pause in which the newcomer grinned slyly. 

“Or what, what do you think it could be, Hinoe?” Takashi asked, realizing the ayakashi was waiting for the satisfaction of being questioned.

“Or then it’s a big one that’s scheming something and hiding its presence while doing so,” she finished, expression turning thoughtfully serious again. 

At this Sensei jumped on her irritated, “You fool, why would you say that? Now he’s going to be even more worried! And for what? Nothing. Nothing, I say! There is no danger to Natsume in this house, I’m not that incompetent a bodyguard!”

“There’s danger to our Natsume-sama?” piped up the Chuukyuu who had managed to enter at the worst possible timing, “Why you must let us help, we shall protect Natsume-sama at all costs!”

“At all costs!”

“As I keep saying, you bothered buffoons, there is NO DANGER!” 

The scene unfolding in Takashi’s room was none the better than the usual chaos caused by the circle of drunkard youkai who enjoyed making it their meeting place. For a second, he almost felt at ease observing the familiar display of Sensei mildly terrorizing the Chuukyuu, Hinoe laughing at them from above. But he had a mission now, he wanted to find out what it was that had been going around the house for the past month. If there really was any kind of animosity or scheme behind it all, like Hinoe had said, he would have to do something about it before...leaving.

“Do any of you have any ideas what it could be?” he addressed the whole room at once, hoping to get more input that Sensei tended to offer. 

Hinoe was finally the one to continue speculating: “It is quite strange though, that it hasn’t caused any actual trouble yet. This type of ayakashi that makes its presence known through noise and objects rarely is long-winded enough to keep it up without a purpose. Especially considering you’ve found no sign of a physical presence.”

“Yes,” Takashi hummed, “there hasn’t been anything outright malicious in any of it, but…”

“If it’s inside the house it’s got to be a small fry, though, hasn’t it, considering Madara-sama’s powers?” the Chuukyuu questioned.

“But it’s strange that he couldn’t sense it even when concentrating,” Hinoe mused, “could it be that your powers are simply fading with old age, Madara?”

The result predictable, Takashi shut his eyes and thought for a moment, letting Sensei’s outrage and quaffle with Hinoe pass through his ears without registering it. He thought of what had happened in the house recently, and all he could do was wonder if he somehow had managed to make it a haunted house just by living in it.

Lying down on the floor he stared up at the ceiling, from where several youkai, like Gomochi, had appeared. Was there something hiding there, or perhaps in the walls? Under the floor? Was it an invisible youkai? A month’s search had brought him no results, and he was starting to wonder if it really was only his imagination, puzzling up a mysterious youkai from several perfectly explainable incidents.

Suddenly, though, he felt something. He suddenly sat upright, attracting the attention of all the squabbling ayakashi in the room. It was as if the floor had been vibrating under him. 

“Did you feel that?” he looked around the room, but was met only with confused gazes from all the ones present. He slowly stood up, feeling it faintly under his feet. It couldn’t just be the washing machine or some other electrical appliance, those he’d either recognize, or then they wouldn’t affect the build of the house like this. 

He took a few careful steps, following the resonance in the floorboards, all under an uncharacteristic silence that had fallen following his sudden stirring. The others were all staring at him, with varying degrees of suspicion and confusion. He ignored the hovering questions for a while until he managed to reach out his hand, and

“The house, the walls and boards, they respond to my touch.”

“

_ It liked Existing. It liked Watching, not just seeing, Listening, not just hearing, Feeling, not just experiencing, Remembering, not just passing. It enjoyed all the new impressions that came with consciousness, but most of all it enjoyed the Warmth. The Warmth of a summer’s day, the warmth even the rain now dispersed in its droplets.  _

_ The old couple and the Child they brought had given It that, given It sensations. It could be through the Power that he held, that those around him held, but It felt most of all, that it was the warmth itself. The love that the Child held for those who took him in, the warmth he had felt in It had somehow transferred, given It Existence. And It was grateful for that, grateful enough to seek to repay the Child.  _

_ But there was little It could think to do, few ways it could imagine bringing the child more of the Warmth he deserved. _

_ So It only kept Watching and Listening and Feeling, growing roots around the humans, knowing and caring more and more, affection trickling in between the earth to nourish and sprout. _

“

“We should wait for Touko-san before leaving, shouldn’t we?” Natsume inquired with a hesitant smile toward his guardian, who was sitting at the end of the table, chewing on a senbei. 

“Well, I suppose she would want to come with us,” Fujiwara-san replied with a small frown, taking a sip of his tea before amusedly adding: “though today you’re still coming back home with us, aren’t you Takashi?”

Natsume’s face flushed a bit, probably pleased, as he let out a small huff of laughter and nodded. Tooru couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s reaction.

Sitting at Natsume’s dining table having tea with his foster father wasn’t a new situation for Tooru. It was actually fairly enjoyable, she got to discuss many things - Natsume of course, the world of someone new, and both Fujiwara-sans would always listen to her stories with a small, kind and attentive smile. At times like those she sometimes experienced a passing envy for what Natsume had found here, in this house. But it was always, as said, passing. She wasn’t unhappy with her home, despite it being empty at times, and she wished all the happiness in the world for Natsume.   


Tooru had always been better at talking with adults than she was at interacting with people her own age. She had gotten used to her grandfather as a sort of playmate, and it didn’t help that she was shy beyond help, afraid to be too forward and presumptuous. She got easily excited when the subject was something she cared for, and had when she was younger managed to scare away friends with being too enthusiastic. The whole business with the youkai that threatened her, making it so that she barely spoke to anyone during her first several months in also didn’t help with making friends, not then and not afterwards. She’d had Natsume and Tanuma of course, sort of their friends as well, for hanging out, but none in her own class before halfway through second year. Then she’d decided to join a club, and though they weren’t very prominent or great at their school, through these activities she’d gotten to know a lot of people now dear to her. A kouhai from her club had told her she was aiming for the same university Tooru had gotten into, and it made her very happy to think that she might meet her there the next year. That, and that maybe, just maybe, she had played a role in inspiring the other girl to try for it.

Tooru smiled into her teacup at the thought, glancing up at Tanuma, who was looking decidedly more uncomfortable in the situation. He also seemed like the type to be good with adults, but Tooru’s theory was that the closer he came to being one himself, the more difficult it became for him to speak to them as he had before. Of course Tanuma had also changed, become even more social perhaps, since she’d first met him, an awkward introduction through Natsume, which quickly turned to bonding over how worried they were about their common friend. But even now Tanuma was still a quiet and introverted person, and Tooru at least saw no reason for him to force a bigger change. 

Though now that she thought about it, it was also possible that Tanuma was curious to hear the rest of Natsume’s story about the strange youkai in his house. He had always treasured every scrap of tales about Natsume’s encounters, and the chance to supposedly meet one of the featuring characters came seldom enough. 

As if reacting to her thoughts, Fujiwara-san suddenly put his mug down onto the table and cleared his throat; “I’ll go out to check on the van. You three can stay here and rest until Touko comes home.”

The three of them nod in gratitude, and when Shigeru, who doesn’t know the secret, but probably knows that there is a secret, has safely left outside, both Tooru and Tanuma turn expectantly towards Natsume.

“What happened with the ayakashi?” “Where is it now?”

“

“Hm?” Sensei trotted to stand next to the wall, followed by the other youkai “what do you mean-,” he fell silent for a second before fixing a triumphant look at Takashi: “I can hear something!”

Takashi moved his hands along the wall, noticing the reciprocating trembles in the material. He was starting to realize that he hadn’t been completely off track after all, in imagining he had created a haunted house. Because, without doubt, this was the house, or something that lived in its very structure that he was now communicating with. 

“Can you understand what it’s saying, Sensei?” he asked, remembering the previous times when he couldn’t hear or understand an ayakashi’s voice, having to rely on Sensei to relay its words to him. 

“Hmmm…” Sensei scrunched up his face, which was a fairly comical sight, “It certainly is saying  _ something _ .”

“Madara-sama, does it mean harm to Natsume-sama?” the Chuukyuu immediately decided to inquire.

“Maybe if you dimwits were quiet for a blasted second I’d actually be able to hear what it’s saying.”

“Oh, could it be that not only sensing youkai, now your sense of hearing is deteriorating as well? Poor Madara…”

“Oh and you can of course hear every syllable perfectly, over your own endless blabbing!”

“Stay calm and listen, why don’t you, this is why you hot-tempered small creatures are-”

“Who’s a small creature, just you wait-!”

Suddenly the whole room shook, bringing back upon them an abrupt silence. 

Takashi blinked a couple of times, arriving at the strange but near inevitable conclusion: “Do you…do you think that was it laughing?”

After much grumbling and distraction, Hinoe and Sensei together managed to decipher most of the House’s words, if they could be called that. It seemed the House itself had since Takashi moved in gained some sort of consciousness - not unlike a tsukumogami, Hinoe injected - through either power or sheer feeling poured into it, poured out within it. It seemed that the House had felt much gratitude for this, growing attached to watching Natsume’s life inside the house, all the meetings and partings within its walls gave it richness in emotion and experience it apparently adored. The reason Sensei hadn’t been able to sense it, was that it had always been there, slowly growing in awareness.   


The House said it had wanted to show its gratitude to Natsume, but being quite the weak ayakashi it had been unable to affect anything but itself, and had deigned itself just to keep observing, in case it could ever be of any use. That was, until it came upon the knowledge that Natsume was leaving the house to go live in another city, away from the Fujiwaras. The House had no concept of time, and was afraid Natsume would never return, that there’d be no one to know of it and no one to fill the house with warmth - it’s exact words, which Takashi blushed heinously at. So it decided it would do anything in its power to make Natsume’s life easier, and perhaps in the process gain his attention. Of course this had caused worry for Natsume, which had been far from its intention, but it was glad that they finally could communicate and it could express its gratitude and well-wishes outright. 

“If there is anything It can do for you, Natsume, it will gladly abide, it says,” transcribed Hinoe with a slight quirk of her lips. 

Takashi didn’t know what to say. He was deeply relieved there was nothing wishing any harm upon the Fujiwaras in the house. He was also both moved by the House’s story and embarrassed by his own part in it. It was also somehow strange to think that the house he lived in had its own life, that he had been seen living his life, that he had been felt. He knew from earlier encounters that even houses could be alive, ayakashi, have consciousness and memory, but having it be his own home was something new. It was after all, an important place he had poured so much emotion into. Emotion that apparently had far from gone to waste.

“I can promise I will be back, often,” he hesitantly stroked the wall, “so if you would protect those in this house while I am gone as well as you can, I’d be the one who is grateful.”

“

“So the youkai,” Kaname looked up at the ceiling in wonder, “is this entire House?”

At Natsume’s affirming nod Taki smiled and said: “So, we’ve already met it, huh?”

Kaname let out a breathy, unintentionally disbelieving laugh. He knew of many youkai, that Natsume had met and told him about, that Taki had read about and shared with him, but it never ceased to surprise him how diverse the forms and lives of ayakashi could be. That he was at this very moment, sitting within the borders for an ayakashi that  _ Natsume _ had seemingly given life to. He couldn’t help but laugh, delighted as he was. He trusted every word Natsume had told them, of course he did, there was nothing to hide here, no danger, no threat. There was only a wonderful, wonderful story of how the love and warmth of one person, and of the people around him, had created an awareness, a will, a promise. Because though Natsume hadn’t put it like that outright, Kaname understood that just that was what it boiled down to. 

“Can we,” he found himself asking, pushing his chair back to get up, “can we speak to it?”

“You can speak,” came a stark voice from below, “but I’m afraid that without me you won’t be able to get any answers.”

“Sensei!” Taki exclaimed, looking at the cat on the floor with repressed longing, “where have you been?”

“I’ve been having a nap, that’s what, you wouldn’t believe how long Natsume kept me up last night with his worrying about this and that!” Sensei scoffed, “and now you kids are being so rowdy yet again, I can’t get a moment's peace around here.”

“Thank you, Nyanko-sensei,” Natsume chuckled, “for translating.”

“Hmph! I’ve said no such thing.” The cat jumped up on Fujiwara-san’s empty chair and closed its eyes, cracking the right one slightly open after a while to follow the proceedings. 

Kaname smiled wider now, at the antics of Natsume’s dishonestly loyal bodyguard. It was that cat that had by saving no truth or reproach brought Natsume closer to them. Without Sensei, Kaname was sure Natsume would never have been forced to open up as much as he had - and though forcing wasn’t the ideal way, the results had ended up being good for all parties involved. He would surely one day thank the ayakashi-cat for his role, but he knew he’d be met only with belittling scoffs. Right now though…

Kaname made his way to the kitchen wall and looked at Natsume questioningly. Receiving yet another nod in response, he turned towards the wooden surface and touched it lightly with his hand. He knew Natsume and Taki were watching and felt the embarrassment colour his cheeks, but leaning his forehead to the wall he whispered, quietly enough to hopefully not be heard by the others in the room: “Thank you. He’s very dear to me, too, and I know how it can feel to share his Warmth. So, thank you, for coming to exist and for caring about him.”

Whether the house replied or not, only Sensei knew, and he certainly didn’t tell. But for a second, Kaname felt like the wall reverberated in response to his touch. Taki was up now, too, excitedly talking to the wall - which from an outsider’s point of view surely would have looked insane. But for them it now had meaning, thanks to Natsume. 

Kaname had come to realize that it didn’t really matter much, what Natsume was or became. He would always remain Natsume, and that was, without fail, enough and much more. Kaname had learned, through Natsume and his encounters, that neither fear, humor, desire nor weakness were qualities limited to humans.

“

_ It was still filled with Warmth, not only that of the Child - Natsume - but that which was shared between him and the other Children - his friends. Woven together by threads of light and feelings which cannot be seen nor heard, these three - and the others who sometimes had visited within Its walls - they created a quilt of Experience and Emotion.  _

_ The Child would leave - but he would come back, he had promised, he would come with the autumn wind and with the late summer rain, sometimes more often, sometimes less, but never would It have to wait for the seasons to change. The Child would leave - but he would leave behind some of his generated warmth, to live on with the couple, in the House, because trails like that can and should not be erased. They had to live on within those encountered, It had come to learn. The Child would leave, taking with him some of that warmth, sharing it with his friends and many many others he had yet to meet.  _

_ And that was the beauty of Existence, It had come to understand. _

“

Takashi felt wistful, of course he did. The happiest time of his life was coming to an end. Happiest time as of yet, he reminded himself, but partings were never kind. He would see Touko-san and Shigeru-san monthly, sometimes even more often. Kitamoto would also be staying in town, so he wouldn’t be far away either. He would be living together with Tanuma! There was so much to look forward to. But Taki was going to Tokyo, and so, though she didn’t know it, was Nishimura, who had dreamt of the City for so long. Both of them would be far, only to be seen during holidays. They’d stay in touch, of course they would, but there was always an ounce of fear when you had to be far from those who had always been close. There was an everyday life to be forever left behind, exchanged for a new one. For better or for worse, these days would never be coming back. 

The ayakashi he had met, the ayakashi who had stayed, it wasn’t like he’d never meet them again. But youkai tended to be either travellers, who constantly moved forward and therefore had moved on from Takashi’s town as well, or then they were quite locally bound, attached to their home areas. Takashi had no reason to believe anyone but Sensei would follow him more than perhaps for the occasional visit, like Kogitsune from the train ride away. Time for them was different, as was clear from how they thought of Reiko-san. Things would be changing. The Book of Friends was thin, and who knew how many of the youkai he would be able to meet from further away. Things were uncertain. 

You’ll get to keep the key, of course, Touko-san had said. Takashi had cried a little bit, at leaving his home, the first place in ten years he could with no hesitation in his voice call so. It would still be his home, he knew.

He was looking forward to his new life, with the pinch of unavoidable dread, mixed in with the anticipation. Outside his Home, the House, he glanced at Tanuma, who seemed to understand and gave him an encouraging smile along with a compassionate look. It was the same for him, in many ways, surely, and they’d have all the time in the world to talk about it. But Takashi now needed to have another conversation.

No one was near when he touched the House’s wall and with a muted voice asked: “Do you have a name I could call you? That I could greet you with when I come back again?”

Somehow he didn’t need Sensei’s interference - said cat was already in the car - to understand the response.

...

“Would you like for me to give you one?”

...

_ “Thank you, Jiushiki, I’ll be seeing you soon.” _

“

“Takashi-kun!” Touko was catching her breath running up to the house, “Sorry I took so long, you see, I ran into your old homeroom teacher at the store, would you believe that? Oh but what am i saying, stalling even more. I needed to hand you this.”

She reached out with the paper bag in her hands and smiled, seeing Takashi’s surprised appreciation when he received it. 

“It’s not much, but with you moving out, we just thought we must get you something, and, well…” She trailed off, suddenly feeling a bit unsure. Takashi would surely say he loved it, the precious child, but she wondered if it was old-fashioned after all. They weren’t the youngest parents around, and though that usually didn’t bother her, at times like these she found herself wondering if it’d have been easier for Takashi to relate to them if they were a couple of years younger.

But Takashi had picked out the small pocket watch and was currently opening it. Seeing the picture inside, Touko had to hold her breath, and let it out as she noticed the tears starting to trickle down her son’s cheeks. 

She reached out her hand, not sure what to say, and when Takashi barely reacted to his shoulder being held, she brought her other arm around him in a careful embrace. Physical affection hadn’t been something very common, except for the occasional pat on the head or back. But right now, it felt like the right thing to do. Hugging her crying child, she whispered: “You’ll keep the keys, of course. Not that it’s locked unless we're both out. You’re welcome back though, any time, you know that. We’ll always be counting the minutes.”

Takashi let out a little sob. They stayed like that for a while, until he took a final shaky breath before holding up the gift and saying: “Yes. I’ll be counting too.”

Touko smiled, and watched Takashi collect himself and go back to his friends. They had some kind of a talk, pointed at the house. Takashi went back to the front door alone while the two others moved toward the van. What could he be doing? Touko would usually leave him alone, but she was a bit worried so she approached him. Just when she was about to reach him, he turned back to make his way to the car. Touko smiled again, fondly.

_ Jiushiki, that might be a nice name for a house, indeed. _

“

_ Jiushiki was left standing, with a new name. With a new name that was to be called by many hereinafter, knowingly or unawares of the delta there to hear, to Listen to the calling.  _

_ It was very Warm, today. _

**Author's Note:**

> this has been a tribute to tamayura no ie, in that well, there being a house.... if anyone else has read it, please talk to me? anyway sfsg the name is writtten like 慈雨敷as in the type of rain! blessed rain that is. and shiki from yashiki bc well it has something to do with houses. also i was an idiot for a second and thought the ji was the kanji for shigeru and thought i was secretly a genius but hey, being a fool is more in character, sanzui who
> 
> was there a point to this story? who knows, at least i wrote it
> 
> tanuma is kind of in love, because its the only way i know how to write him


End file.
